Placing Plates Under the Feet for Deadlifts

The deadlift is one of the most versatile strength exercises around. While it’s primarily a lower-body exercise, it also requires the use of many of your upper-body muscles for stabilization. The deadlift primarily works your glute muscles, but you can shift more focus to your hamstrings by placing a weight plate under the front of your feet as you perform the exercise.

  1. Muscles Used

    • The conventional deadlift primarily targets your glutueus maximus, your largest glute muscle. The syngergist muscles, which assist in the movement and are activated in the process, are your hamstrings, adductor magnus in your inner thighs and erector spinae in your lower back. There are also a large number of muscles that act as stabilizers in the movement. These include your quadriceps, trapezius, rhomboids, latissimus dorsi in your back and levator scapulae in your neck. Your rectus abdominus and obliques in your waist act as antagonist stabilizers. The stabilizers and antagonist stabilizers are also strengthened to a lesser degree.

    Weight Plate Variation

    • During a traditional stiff-legged deadlift, your hamstrings are activated at the bottom of the movement when they are the most stretched. When you place a weight plate under your toes while doing the deadlift, you raise the front of your feet, which forces your calves and hamstrings to stretch. This means your hamstrings remained stretched and activated throughout the entire exercise rather than at just at the bottom of the movement.

    Technique

    • Set two 25-pound weight plates side-by-side on the floor under the barbell you will be lifting. Stand so that the front of your feet are on the plates and your heels are still on the floor. You should feel tension in your calves and hamstrings. Bend and grasp the barbell at shoulder width, using an overhand grip. Bend your knees slightly, but keep them locked in place and press your chest forward to arch your back. Looking forward during the exercise will help keep your back arched. Exhale and slowly stand, raising the bar off the ground, until your body is slightly above parallel. Inhale, bend at the hips and slowly return the barbell down to your toes.

    Sets and Reps

    • Perform two to four sets of eight to 12 repetitions to improve your strength and power. If you are new to the exercise, begin with a lower weight and perform two to four sets of 10 to 15 repetitions. If your goal is to improve your muscular endurance, increase your repetitions to 15 to 20 per set. Leave at least 48 hours between training sessions of the same muscle groups to allow your muscles to rest, repair and grow.